Hawks, owls and other raptors tell tales of a changing landscape in Western Massachusetts

View full sizeGreg Saulmon / The Republican11.14.2010 | HOLYOKE - A pair of hawks perch on the fire escape of the abandoned Essex House building on High Street.

They aren’t the canaries in the coal mine, but hawks and other raptors can tell a story of changes in the surroundings.

As forestland and farm fields of Western Massachusetts have been lost, and the landscape has turned less rural and more urban and suburban, some birds of prey have benefited while others have not.

Predictably, barn owls, which nest in barns and hunt the fields for rodents, have declined in this region, while red-tailed hawks and barred owls, which like to hunt along the edges of forests and along roadsides, have grown more abundant.

Thomas P. Ricardi, of Conway, a retired state environmental police officer, sees the evidence of these trends, as he cares for birds of prey hit by cars or injured in other ways.

“Almost every day I’m picking up an owl or a hawk hit by cars. With redtails, I just think the habitat is better for them,” he said. “A lot of the heavy forest is gone and there is a lot of food for them.”

At any given moment, Ricardi, who has rehabilitated birds of prey since the 1970s, may be caring for 50 or more birds, releasing them back into the wild as they recover. His work is paid for through donations.

“Usually, in a given year, I might pick up 15 or so redtails. But I’m up to 35 or 36 for the year right now. Barred owls are pretty close to that,” he said.

Red-tailed hawks are especially visible along Interstate 91 and other major roads, perched on utility poles. Why? Because the grass along the roadsides and in the medians is usually mowed, he said.

“They spot a mouse in that grass easier than in a field of hay. The roadway is a real opportunity for them,” Ricardi said.

Barred owls, which are nocturnal, may hunt the same areas at night.

Norman Smith, the director of the Massachusetts Audubon Society’s Blue Hills Trailside Museum in Milton, follows population trends for birds of prey for the society.

Some farm fields have regrown to forest and that has benefited Cooper’s hawks, a woodland species, he said. “(They) have really increased over the past 10 years more than any other raptor in Massachusetts,” he said.

“There has been an increase in red-shouldered hawks the past few years, especially in urban areas,” Smith said. “As far as barred owls are concerned, nationwide they have expanded their range.”

Most of the birds of prey that breed in Western Massachusetts migrate south during the winter. At Lighthouse Point in New Haven, Conn., the numbers and types of migrating raptors have been recorded for more than three decades.

Those surveys show that the number of migrating kestrels has declined since 1980, while the number of Cooper’s hawks, merlins, red-shouldered hawks and red-tailed hawks has increased.

Populations of broad-winged hawks, sharp-shinned hawks, Northern goshawks, Northern harriers and rough-legged hawks have remained stable, according to those surveys.